Table 3 The relationship between CTCs enumeration and TNM stage of NPC patients
|  | Newly diagnosis (M0, N = 29) | Relapse/Distant metastasis after treatment (N = 21) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Stagea | Nb | No. of CTCs | Nb | No. of CTCs | ||
Range | Mean ± SD | Range | Mean ± SD | |||
Total | 29 | 0–24 | 3.7 ± 4.6 | 21 | 0–45 | 8.6 ± 13.3 |
T-classification | ||||||
 T1 | 5 | 1–3 | 2.0 ± 1.0 | 2 | 1–4 | 2.5 ± 2.1 |
 T2 | 5 | 0–13 | 3.8 ± 5.3 | 3 | 1–8 | 3.3 ± 4.0 |
 T3 | 7 | 0–7 | 3.0 ± 2.2 | 6 | 0–22 | 3.0 ± 3.0 |
 T4 | 12 | 1–24 | 4.8 ± 6.2 | 10 | 0–45 | 12.1 ± 17.9 |
N-classification | ||||||
 N0 | 3 | 0–5 | 3.0 ± 2.6 | 1 | 16 | 16.0 |
 N1 | 1 | 1 | 1.0 | 7 | 1–45 | 16.4 ± 19.8 |
 N2 | 20 | 0–24 | 4.4 ± 5.4 | 9 | 0–8 | 2.6 ± 2.6 |
 N3 | 5 | 1–3 | 2.0 ± 0.7 | 4 | 1–22 | 6.8 ± 10.1 |
TNM stage | ||||||
 I | 0 | – | – | 0 | – | – |
 II | 2 | 0–1 | 0.5 ± 0.7 | 2 | 1–4 | 2.5 ± 2.1 |
 III | 12 | 0–13 | 3.7 ± 3.4 | 7 | 0–12 | 8.6 ± 13.3 |
 IV | 15 | 1–24 | 4.1 ± 5.7 | 12 | 0–45 | 12.0 ± 16.8 |